Best Small Business Marketing Firm for Kips Bay

en:User:Kips Bay; cropped by Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Kips Bay: There’s More in Area than You’d Think

Kips Bay is not one of the “famous” neighborhoods in Manhattan. It’s not as edgy as its neighbor to the south, the East Village, nor as upper crust as its neighbor to the north, the Upper East Side. However, Kips Bay has more to it than most people think.

On the east, Kips Bay is dominated by the major teaching hospitals, so the area is normally full of healthcare professionals and those in training. On 2nd Avenue in the 30s, there is Kips Bay Plaza, a large retail and entertainment space. To the north, you hit the United Nations, so there is generally some degree of diplomats in the region.

One of the marketing challenges is that the neighborhood can be pretty transient with the United Nations, the medical schools, etc. so businesses often have to keep reintroducing themselves to new customers. 

Why Web Design Matters in Kips Bay?

In a crowded and changeable neighborhood, your challenge isn’t so much in targeting as it is in standing out.  A great web design can help you get your message out. 

  1. Web design in Kips Bay is about owning a small niche that’s novel and interesting. Then, expanding from it.
  2. It is important to raise awareness constantly because there will be new customers moving in and out on a fairly regular basis. A fast, intuitive site is perfect for this.
  3. Mobile lets your customers you are nearby, open, and accessible. No one likes to travel far if they can find something closer.

How to Evaluate Small Business Marketing Firms

Use the 6 Key Factors

6 Factors Great Small Business Marketing Agency

You Need to Know Where You Are Going Before Choosing How to Get There.

Strategy is a term that is misused often. A strategy is making a clear choice of between options. As a metaphor, I like to use a vacation as the example. The strategy is choosing where to go. The tactic is the means of transportation. Here, you need to evaluate if the agency you choose has a clear understand of where you are going and how it can deploy its tactics to help you win.

Your Marketing Needs to Deliver a Return

Sometimes marketing is an investment. Sometimes programs work. Sometimes, they fail. Regardless, you need a measurement plan in place to know which to kill and which to grow.

Testing is How You Learn

Learning is part of any marketing campaign. It is how you improve and grow. The market is constantly changing. You will be best suited to meet that change if you constantly testing.

Digital Marketing Knowhow is Fundamental

Digital marketing is a diverse field. One group specializes on web design and another on social. If you need a specialized agency for each, the costs add up quickly. Each have overheads they need to cover. This is where a full service agency can help. Those overheads are shared the different disciplines. Now, one caveat, it is important to know that the full service agency can provide the same if not better quality as the specialized.

Small Business Experience Can't be Beat

Large company solutions or carbon copies of other campaigns rarely work for small businesses. If you are seeking marketing help, make sure that the firm you chose has the experience in small business.

Risk Sharing

If a marketing firm will not share some of the risk with you, then they are not as vested in the outcome as you are.

Creativity Wins Points.

According to Best Designs, original graphics are the most successful. 

“Original graphics make up 40% of all successful visual content that accomplishes marketing goals, but 43% of marketers struggle with the consistent production of captivating visuals.”

Since we are communicating one message, the artwork that supports it must work very hard to support the message. This is where local market know-how can really help. Original photos and images of your business in Kipps Bay interacting with your neighborhood can add value.

It also helps with when your calls to action focus on local events in and around Kips Bay or at your business location.

email marketing for small business call to action

Call to Action

Every email, no matter how trivial, should have a call to action. This is where all the hard work above pays off. If we omit one, we just wasted resources that could have been spent more cost effectively.

We cover email list building in great detail in our post on small business email marketing. Again, we will just hit the highlights here as it pertains to Kips Bay. Every neighborhood has summer fairs. While these were severely impacted by COVID, in our post COVID world they should roar back with a vengeance. It would be smart to see if you could piggy-back off one or more of them.

Incentives, deals, free trials, and samples are all great options when developing your calls to action. See if you can partner with your neighbors to create a shared promotion. This way one shopper in Kips Bay has two or more places to visit while out in the neighborhood.

Why Local Digital Marketing Matters in Kips Bay?

In a crowded and changeable neighborhood, your challenge isn’t so much in targeting as it is in standing out.  Local digital marketing can help you get your message out. 

  1. Local digital marketing in Kips Bay is about owning a small niche that’s novel and interesting. Then, expanding from it.
  2. It is important to raise awareness constantly because there will be new customers moving in and out on a fairly regular basis.  
  3. Local digital marketing lets your customers you are nearby, open, and accessible. No one likes to travel far if they can find something closer.

Are They in This With You?

Marketing always contains some risk. You should be suspect of anyone who tells you otherwise. Yes, there are techniques that can make you much more successful. However, any seasoned marketer knows that even with the best techniques, there is always some uncertainty. If you truly are a team, then your partner should be willing to help you share some of the risk, as long as you are willing to follow best practices. If your partner helped you build the strategy and craft the brand message, then it is reasonable that they share some of the risk. This way you are both aligned to the same goal, which is delivering a positive return on your marketing spending.

Why Size & Location Matters?

First, if you work with a larger firm, the quality of the people and the time they will invest is directly proportional to the amount of money you spend. They may tell you otherwise, but you know that not every client or customer is treated equally. This is why you want to find a firm where you budget matters to them. This way your project gets the attention it deserves instead of being given to a junior team member as part of the 10 other projects he or she is working on.

In addition, local knowledge is important so your message comes across as authentic. If the firm doesn't understand your neighborhood, town, or city, then the language they use or tone of the campaign can be off. Customers are smarter than many give them credit for. They can usually spot fakes easily.

If you need help with marketing your business, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Things to Remember…

If you're thinking about finding help in Kips Bay for your small business, here are the things to keep in mind.

  1. Find a firm that knows your area. If your small business is marketing in Kips Bay, you'll want help from someone who understands the lay of the land, character of the neighborhood and the daily flow.
  2. Find a company you can trust. If you can't trust a business to have your best interests, you're already going to be left in the lurch. Make sure you have a guarantee that your business will be treated fairly by all parties.
  3. Get the size of help you need. A larger firm can provide more resources and can do more things. A smaller firm, on the other hand, can be less intimidating, with the added benefit of one-on-one help from the best the company can offer.

See more about Small Business Marketing in Kips Bay. If you are more interest in the borough, you can see our Small Business Marketing in Manhattan. If you want the full city, you can see our Small Business Marketing in NYC.